Outcome Three: Informed consumers and businesses interacting with confidence
By setting rules and defining rights, MBIE allows business to operate effectively while protecting consumers from harm. MBIE supports consumers, tenants, landlords, workers and businesses by providing information and services. We help to set and enforce market rules and regulations across a range of areas, including the building and construction market and telecommunications sector.
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Text version of outcome three - informed consumers and businesses interacting with it
This delivers broader benefits such as business confidence; safe, healthy and vibrant communities; and a fair, regulated and well-functioning market allowing participation and trading with confidence and ease.
While consumers are generally trusting and confident when purchasing goods and services in New Zealand, consumer confidence fluctuated throughout the year with worries about employment. Overall there has been widespread support for the actions taken by government in the way it has handled its response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Business confidence saw significant improvement since the end of Alert Level 4, but sentiment remains below the Global Financial Crisis lows with some sectors (e.g. retail) and regions (e.g. Auckland) remaining pessimistic.
Many of the key metrics from the New Zealand Companies Office suggest business activity was returning to more normal levels prior to the recent resurgence in Auckland.
What we're working towards
| Performance measure | Indicator | Current trend | Desired trend | Commentary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Increase consumer awareness | Percentage of adult consumers that know at least a moderate amount about their rights as a consumer | N/A | Increase |
There is no data update in 2020 for this indicator because the survey is run every two years. The results of the next survey will be reported in MBIE’s 2020/21 Annual Report. In 2018/19 we reported that less than half (46%) of adult consumers feel they know at least a moderate amount about their rights as consumers. This was lower than in 2016, when 51% of consumers said they knew at least a moderate amount. |
| Increase consumer confidence in business | Percentage of adult consumers that agree that in New Zealand you can generally buy products and services and feel confident that businesses will do the right thing and not try to mislead or cheat you | N/A | Increase |
There is no data update in 2020 for this indicator because the survey is run every two years. The results of the next survey will be reported in MBIE’s 2020/21 Annual Report. In 2018/19 we reported that in 2018, 74% of consumers agreed that New Zealand businesses will do the right thing and not try to mislead or cheat them. This was slightly lower than 75% in 2016. |
| Improve access to dispute resolution services | Percentage of consumers that agree there is adequate access to services that help to resolve disputes between consumers and business | N/A | Increase |
There is no data update in 2020 for this indicator because the survey is run every two years. The results of the next survey will be reported in MBIE’s 2020/21 Annual Report. In 2018/19 we reported that in 2018, 44% of consumers agreed that there was adequate access to services that help resolve disputes between consumers and businesses (down from 49% in 2016). |
| Increase tenancy mediation satisfaction | Percentage of clients satisfied based on their last interaction with the tenancy mediation services (Note, the methodology for this indicator has been refined since the MBIE Statement of Intent 2018–2022. Satisfaction is defined as a score of 4 and 5 for the Common Measurements Tool (CMT) scale, and the reporting period has been changed from the quarter to June to the year to June.) | Decrease |
Increase |
The percentage of clients satisfied with the overall quality of tenancy mediation services in the year to June 2020 was 71%, a decrease from 76.3% in 2019. It is highly likely that the June 2020 survey was impacted by the COVID-19 response – the number of potential participants was lower for the quarter to June 2020, and several of the open-text responses specifically mention COVID-19 as having impacted on their mediation experience. |
| Increase employment mediation customer satisfaction | The percentage of clients satisfied based on their last interaction with the employment mediation services | Steady |
Increase |
The percentage of clients satisfied with the overall quality of employment mediation services in the quarter to December 2019 was 75%, the same as it was in the quarter to December 2018. Because of the COVID-19 response, the March 2020 survey was delayed and so the results are not comparable with the previous year’s and are not being used here. |
| Improve the business experience when dealing with government | Customer Experience Index (CXI) | Decrease |
Increase |
The Better for Business (B4B) CXI measures the quantity and quality of overall customer experiences for businesses when dealing with government or complying with government requirements. It ranges from 1 (least positive) to 100 (most positive). In the 6 months to December 2019, the CXI decreased to 52 compared to 55 in the 6 months to June 2019 and 57 in the 6 months to June 2018. Because of the COVID-19 response, the sample size during February and March 2020 was too small for reliable results, hence they are not being used. |
| Improve the experience for applicants applying for visas | The percentage of visa applicants satisfied with their overall experience of applying for a visa | Decrease |
Increase |
In the year to June 2020, 78% of visa applicants were satisfied with their overall experience of applying for an Immigration New Zealand visa. This is a decrease compared to 2019, when the result was 81%. A total of 9,317 respondents completed the survey – a response rate of 35%. The result has a margin of error of ±1.0%. SurveyMonkey was used to collect results. |
| Reduce burden of government regulations on institutions | Burden of government regulations on institutions | Decrease |
Increase |
The burden of government regulation index measures how burdensome it is for companies to comply with public administration requirements (1 = extremely burdensome, 7 = not burdensome at all). New Zealand’s value on this scale was 4.1 in 2019 (9th in the OECD), slightly lower than its value of 4.4 in 2018 (6th in the OECD). |